Catch-22: A NovelCatch-22 is one of this century's greatest works of American literature. First published m 1961, Joseph Heller's profound and compelling novel has appeared on nearly every list of must read fiction. It is a classic in every sense of the word. Catch-22 took the war novel genre to a new level, shocking us with its clever and disturbing style. Set in a World War II American bomber squadron off the coast of Italy, Catch-22 is the story of John Yossarian, who is furious because thousands of people he has never met are trying to kill him. Yossarian is also trying to decode the meaning of Catch-22, a mysterious regulation that proves that insane people are really the sanest, while the supposedly sensible people are the true madmen. And this novel is full of madmen -- Colonel Cathcart, who keeps raising the number of missions the men must fly m order to finish their tour; Milo Minderbinder, a dedicated entrepreneur who bombs his own airfield when the Germans offer him an extra 6 percent; Major Major Major, whose tragedy in life is that he resembles Henry Fonda; and Major -- de Coverley, whose face is so forbidding no one has dared ask his name. No novel before or since has matched Catch-22's intensity and brilliance in depicting the brutal insanity of war. Heller satirizes military bureaucracy with bitter, stinging humor, all the while telling the darkly comic story of Yossarian, a bombardier who refuses to die. Nearly forty years later, Yossarian lives. |
Contents
Section 1 | 11 |
Section 2 | 31 |
Section 3 | 40 |
Section 4 | 72 |
Section 5 | 85 |
Section 6 | 105 |
Section 7 | 111 |
Section 8 | 129 |
Section 15 | 236 |
Section 16 | 268 |
Section 17 | 296 |
Section 18 | 307 |
Section 19 | 320 |
Section 20 | 325 |
Section 21 | 333 |
Section 22 | 340 |
Section 9 | 137 |
Section 10 | 148 |
Section 11 | 159 |
Section 12 | 179 |
Section 13 | 213 |
Section 14 | 226 |
Section 23 | 348 |
Section 24 | 360 |
Section 25 | 362 |
Section 26 | 405 |
Section 27 | 417 |
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Common terms and phrases
Aarfy afraid answered Appleby asked bastard began Bologna bomb bombardier Captain Black cents apiece chaplain cheeks Chief White Halfoat Clevinger Colonel Cargill Colonel Cathcart Colonel Korn Colonel Moodus Colonel Scheisskopf Corporal Whitcomb crazy cried dead Dobbs Doc Daneeka Dreedle Dreedle's Dunbar enlisted everything ex-P.F.C. Wintergreen exclaimed eyes face fist flak floor girl goddam going hand Havermeyer head hell hospital Hungry Joe Huple inside Kid Sampson killed knew laughed legs Lieutenant Scheisskopf look Major Danby Major de Coverley Major Major Major Sanderson McWatt mess hall Milo Milo's mustache Nately Nately's whore never night nose Nurse Cramer Nurse Duckett officers Peckem Pianosa plane plum tomato replied sarian Sergeant Towser shook shouted smile Snowden someone squadron stop sure talking tell There's thing told trying turned voice waiting walked ward What's Yossar Yossarian